Fishing lure



Dec. 11, 1951 D, FlSHER 2,578,411

FISHING LURE Filed Feb. l2, 1945 Patented Dec. 1l, 1951 UNITED IS TATESF.II'ENT :OFFICE FISHING LUKEy .Donald Fisher, Petersham, Mass.ApplicationlFebruary 12, 1945, Serial No. 577,533

`1 My present invention relates to fishing lures and particularly to alure .to .which` is detachably secured a shell 'thereby to provide theangler wlith means `for quickly and 'easily changing "the appearance ofthe lure by attaching a shell of desired appearance ,or .by substitutingfor one shell, another shell of different appearance.

Lures of the type withwhich this invention is concerned are primarilyadapted for casting, although ythey Amay lof course :be -trolled landare 1commonly termed fplugs Asubstantialvariety ol? plugs are availableto fishermen. These diiier inkind in that their action in fthe water'varies Land plugs :of the same kind "differin color, iinish haveseveral plugs selected to provide the desired range of lures found mosteffective in their experience. It is accordingly necessary for them touse tackle boxes which, while not particularly objectionable whenfishing from a boat, are a nuisance to those who are wading or ilshingfrom the shore.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a lure comprising a hookcarrying body having a pair of spaced locking means and a shell having apair of locking means to cooperate with the first-named locking means indetachably connecting the shell to the body. By this construction, Imake it possible for the angler, quickly and easily to change theappearance of the lure he is using, by attaching a shell to its body, orby utilizing a different shell. As the shells are identical in size andshape, they may be nested to provide a compact pocket kit with which alure, satisfactory in its action, may be adapted to a wide range ofconditions.

In the accompanying drawings, I have shown an illustrative embodiment ofmy invention from which its novel features and advantages will bereadily apparent. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a lure 1n accordance with my invention witha shell attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the lure of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows a plurality of nested shells, and

Fig. 4 is a section along the lines 4 4, of Fig. 2.

At I I have indicated generally a lure which is shown as comprising aflat metal plate II of substantially the outline of the base of the lureand an upper portion I2. The front end of the plate II is transverselybent as at I3 to establish a downwardly disposed fin I4.

The upper portion I2 of the lure I0 is formed from any suitable stock toestablish the desired The result fis that :most "fishermen claims(01.43-42.09)

shape :of the llure and may befnishedasfdesired. :For Ssuch use,vwoodlis radmirably adapted particularly :when va lure is Vwanted 'thatwill Yfloat when at rest or when fished slowly. The upper 'porftion `I2may Vbe attached to the plate I.I in any Iconvenient manner as withscrews I5. `Preferably the llower part of the body portion I2 is`slightly smaller vthan 'the lplate II so that vthe `plate II ismarginally exposed to establish a `fshoulder I6. AAt its front end, thebody Vportion `I2 4:isundercut to define with the plate IxI, a rreicessI1.

`Attached'to theplat'e I'I las by `ascrew Irlsa `resilient latch `I9preferably formed from relatively Vthin stock 'reversely :bent toestablish .a rearwardly projecting bow 20 and a latching portion 2lengaging one portion of the lure adjacent its rear end. Preferably thelatch I9 in its zone defined by the bow 20 is narrower than in the zonedefined by the latching portion 2|. By this construction, a piece ofpork rind or other lure may be slipped over the latching portion 2| andturned into trailing position in the bow portion 20.

At 22, I have indicated a hook attached by a screw 23 extending throughthe plate II into the body portion I2. At 24 I have shown an eye member,which may be attached to the lure in any desired way as by extending itthrough the fin I4, the plate II and into the body portion I2.

By this construction, I provide a lure combining ease of manufacturewith an excellent action that varies with the speed at which it isfished. When the body portion I2 is made of wood or other floatingmaterial, my lure floats when at rest or when lished slowly and whichsubmerges when fished rapidly and has at all times an action which hasproved effective.

At 25 I have shown a plastic shell preferably shaped to receive withinit the -body portion I2 when seated on the shoulder I6. The shell 25 hasan inwardly disposed lip 26 at its front end to enter the recess I'I andat its rear end it has a projection 21 to be engaged by the latch I9 todetachably anchor the shell 25 to the body.

As shown in Fig. 3, shells 25 are adapted to nestl within each otherthereby to permit a plurality of them to be eompactly carried. As I haveindicated in Fig. 3, the shells 25 may be diierently coloredA or theymay be otherwise made so that when used they alter the appearance of thelure.

It will thus be apparent that my invention provides not only a lurewhich by itself is extremely effective in use but also means for quicklyand easily changing its appearance so that an angler may have a completeand compact kit to meet a wide range of conditions.

What I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A fishing lure comprising a body including first and secondinterconnected portions, said first portion being a metal plate ofsubstantially the outline of the bottom of said body and including adownwardly disposed fin at the front end of said body, and said secondportion being shaped to establish the desired shape of saidA lure andbeing of such size that said first portion establishes a marginalshoulder, and a shell to receive within it said second portion and toseatA on said shoulder, and means to detachably lock said shell to saidbody.

2. The shing lure of claim 1, in which the locking means includes anupwardly and inwardly extending latch on said first body portion andengageable with the rear of the lure, said latch comprising a latchingportion and an intermediate, rearwardly disposed bow, the bow being ofless width than the latching portion.

`3. A fishing lure comprising a hook carrying body having at its bottomedge a flange extending laterally from opposite sides thereof and havinga recess in its front end adjacent said bottom edge, a resilient latchat the rear of said body extending forwardly and upwardly to engagevwith said lure a substantial distance above said bottom edge, lineattaching means connected to said body, and a shell of substantially thesize and shape of said body and being ofv such a size .that it may fltover said body and engage with said shoulder, and complemental pairs ofmeans at opposite ends of said body member detachably locking said shellmember to said body member, one pair of means consisting of a resilientlatch on one of said members and a detent surface on the other of saidmembers and the other pair of means consisting of a protruding portionon one of said members and a recess in the other member to receive saidportion.

DONALD G. FISHER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 621,032 Chalmers Mar. 14, 18991,207,588 Maus Dec. 5, 1916 1,466,545 -Peterson Aug. 28, 1923 1,599,763Head Sept. 14, 1926 1,600,652 Steenstrup Sept. 21, 1926 1,600,653Steenstrup Sept. 2l, 1926 1,671,547 Rothera May 29, 1928

